


to fix our broken pieces

by CarbonFootprint



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of the BoM Trails, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, post s2e8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 06:09:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarbonFootprint/pseuds/CarbonFootprint
Summary: “Shiro? Can you help me with this?” He turned around quickly to find Keith stretching his good arm behind his back, trying to reach the zipper on the suit, “I can’t get it…”“I’ve got it, baby, I’ve got it,” Shiro said easily, moving behind him to carefully drag the zipper down, exposing inch after inch of Keith’s smooth back. The ridges of his shoulder blades were bruised, already dyed a deep purple from how many times his back had hit the ground, and his sides were in no better shape.Something inside of Shiro boiled over, but he kept his mouth shut for Keith’s sake. He wanted to yell, to be angry, to find the Blade of Marmora and give them a piece of his mind for putting Keith through something so barbaric, but that wouldn’t help Keith in that moment. Keith needed rest and care, and medicine most of all, not rage and verbal vengeance.The post-marmora trial Galra-Keith-reveal that DW didn't bother to provide for us.





	to fix our broken pieces

**Author's Note:**

> HI I STARTED WRITING THIS IN 2017 and I found it in my fic folder and figured Why Not finish it because I still love s2 most of all VLD seasons and I Love hurt Keith >:3c
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this short fic! Thank you for reading!

Even though the time Keith had spent in the trial was shorter than the two days Allura and the others spent waiting for them to come back, Shiro knew the task had taken a lot out of the Red Paladin. He had watched with his own two eyes, helpless to intervene, as Keith took on Blade after Blade, all who either outnumbered him either in size or skill, or both. Keith’s tact had gotten him through it in the end with some help from the Red Lion, but Shiro knew Keith better than most people, and he knew what it looked like when the other paladin tired to hide the pain plaguing him.

He had reemerged dressed in his paladin armor once more to fly the two of them and their new allies back to the castle ship, but Shiro still picked up on the slight limp in Keith’s step when he boarded the lion and the way he winced when reaching for the controls with his right arm. Shiro could tell that he was going to need a healing pod when everything calmed down, but what mattered most was establishing an alliance with the Blade of Marmora.

And that occurred fairly easily despite Allura’s distrust for anyone of Galra origin. Evidentially she could put aside her hate for the chance to work with new, powerful allies in a universe that had seemingly held none to their knowledge in the past. As they walked from the Red Lion’s hanger, heading for the main control room to start a strategizing session, Shiro kept Keith in the corner of his eye. The Red Paladin was worse for wear, but he and Kolivan were the only ones with that information, and Keith didn’t seem inclined to speak up and proclaim his weakness to anyone.

He kept rolling his shoulder only for his jaw to tighten up as he gritted his teeth against the pain, but Shiro knew that exposing Keith’s ordeal to the others wouldn’t be right. As soon as he could slip away, he would get Keith to a healing pod himself and see that the younger boy was free of the pain caused by the trial.

“It was quite surprising to learn of the existence of a Blade among your paladins,” Kolivan’s words brought Shiro’s attention back to the Galran leader, “But even as the paladins of your lions change, I suppose history must repeat itself. Zarkon himself was once a paladin of Voltron after all.”

“What are you talking about?” Allura asked, her eyes narrowing as she stopped walking to look up at Kolivan, intense scrutiny in her gaze, “How could any of our paladins be affiliated with _you_?” Her eyes moved until Shiro felt them land on him, narrowed with suspicion, but the only person he was interested in looking at was Keith. If his face had been slightly drawn from pain before, then he had gone completely white with dread by now.

“Your Red Paladin,” Kolivan clarified, “Did you not know that he is Galra in origin?”

A pall swept over the room then, and Shiro suddenly felt his breath freezing in his chest as Allura’s eyes landed on Keith, darkening quickly with a poisonous rage.

“You-” she said slowly before she was moving, faster than any human, stronger than any human as her forearm pressed to Keith’s clavicle and a resounded slam followed as Keith’s armor smacked against the wall.

“Princess!” Coran’s squawk of surprise rose and fell quickly, going unanswered by anyone as all eyes were on Allura.

“Allura-” Keith’s voice was raspy as his hands scrabbled uselessly against Allura’s arm, trying to pry her away to no avail. Shiro could see her arm pressing harder as he struggled, and he felt his heart clench at Keith’s cry of pain.

“Princess, please stop this,” he tried to speak up, clearly worried more for Keith’s sake than anyone else in the room, “We can explain what happened at the base. There’s no need for-”

“ _How long_ ,” Allura hissed out, ignoring Shiro completely, “How _long_ have you known?”

“I just- I only just- f-found out,” Keith said quickly, groaning in pain when Allura’s hold only strengthened.

“Don’t _lie_ to me,” Allura countered, “It all makes sense now… Why you thought Zarkon could be tracking _you_ , why you were so keen on finding these- these _allies_ once you knew they were Galra… How long did you plan on _deceiving_ us? Long enough to sabotage whatever plan we came up with? Long enough to make sure we were all ruined in the end? You people destroyed everything I once had. I can’t believe I was naïve enough to let it almost happen again-”

“Princess Allura!” Shiro finally yelled, running forward to grab her shoulder, pulling her away from Keith who all but crumpled to the ground when he was no longer being pinned. His breathing was dragging raggedly in his throat as he gasped for air, shaking on the ground.

 Shiro didn’t even pay his actions any mind as he pushed Allura further away, kneeling at Keith’s side to draw the other paladin into his arms, “Keith,” he breathed, “Keith, baby, can you hear me?” He could tell that Keith was barely conscious. The exhaustion combined with the pain and suddenly inability to get enough air was too much for his body, and even as his eyelids fluttered in an attempt to stay awake, his body went limp in Shiro’s arms.

“Is he…” Lance’s voice came from behind him, small and afraid, but Shiro didn’t have concern for anything nor anyone but Keith at that moment.

“He needs a healing pod,” he said sternly as he stood with Keith in his arms, the paladin armor and the dead weight of the other boy almost too heavy for him, but he didn’t let up for a second, “He was injured at the Blade of Marmora headquarters. He’s needed one since we got back.”

He saw the way Allura’s eyes widened in a slight, almost imperceptible way for a moment, her lips parting before they were pressed into a firm line again. There was a tiny bit of regret in her eyes, but it was almost entirely shrouded by the revulsion swimming in the ultraviolet of her gaze, “The pods are down,” she said quietly, her voice unnaturally coarse.

“Excuse me?” Shiro started, taking a step forward, his arms tightening around Keith’s limp form.

“Ah- the Princess is right, Shiro!” Coran quickly stepped between them, “Unfortunately, the proximity to the black holes muddled up some of the ship’s systems, and the wavelength the healing pods operate on was one of the things affected. It will take a while to get them online again, and then they’d have to be calibrated to Keith’s mixed speciation. The infirmary next to the training floor is stocked with plenty of medical supplies though!”

“Fine,” Shiro gritted out, “It’ll have to do.” He shouldered his way past Coran, not sparing a look back at the other paladins as he carried Keith in the direction of the infirmary.

When he was nearly here, Keith started to stir, his eyelids fluttering a few times before his eyes opened, exposing his hazy violet gaze to the dim light of the hallway, “Shiro?” he rasped out, coughing slightly to try and clear his throat, “Where are we going? What happened?”

“Just rest, baby. I’m taking you to get patched up,” Shiro soothed, giving him a soft smile that he knew only came to his lips when it was for Keith and they were alone.

“The pods?” Keith asked out, his eyebrows raising in questioning.

“Down for the time being,” Shiro shook his head, “Something about the black holes throwing off their wavelengths.”

“So the usual then… Just space stuff,” Keith managed to wave his hand lightly before he sighed and leaned his head more fully against Shiro’s chest.

“Yeah, baby, space stuff,” Shiro managed a laugh before he took a turn into the infirmary, carefully setting Keith down on the small bed in the center of the room, “Coran said this place was stocked so I’ll get you patched up in no time, sweetheart.”

“Sounds good to me,” Keith quipped, and Shiro could hear the push in his voice, the attempt to sound as lighthearted as he could, but Keith couldn’t fool him, not when they were alone.

“Let me help you with that armor.” Shiro reached to undo the various clasps and fastenings that held the paladin armor together, pulling off the gauntlets and sliding the bulky chest plate off over his head. With the armor removed, and Keith only dressed in his dark jumpsuit and boots, Shiro could see where blood was seeping through the thin fabric from his shoulder down to his chest from where a blade had slicing through his shoulder.

He swallowed hard around the lump rising into his throat, forcing himself to turn away from the sight as he rummaged through several bins of supplies. Everything was sterilely wrapped in clean, white packaging, but all the descriptions were in Altean. After a few minutes of tearing open some of the supplies, he found something nearly identical to rolled gauze as well as some antibiotic and soothing ointments, which he figured was all Keith needed.

“Shiro? Can you help me with this?” He turned around quickly to find Keith stretching his good arm behind his back, trying to reach the zipper on the suit, “I can’t get it…”

“I’ve got it, baby, I’ve got it,” Shiro said easily, moving behind him to carefully drag the zipper down, exposing inch after inch of Keith’s smooth back. The ridges of his shoulder blades were bruised, already dyed a deep purple from how many times his back had hit the ground, and his sides were in no better shape.

Something inside of Shiro boiled over, but he kept his mouth shut for Keith’s sake. He wanted to yell, to be angry, to find the Blade of Marmora and give them a piece of his mind for putting Keith through something so barbaric, but that wouldn’t help Keith in that moment. Keith needed rest and care, and _medicine_ most of all, not rage and verbal vengeance.

With as much care as he could put into his actions, he guided Keith’s tired arms out of the sleeves of the suit. He could only provide a babble of soothing words when the suit caught and tugged at the jagged edges of the wound through Keith’s shoulder, but eventually he got the suit half off, leaving it slung around Keith’s waist for later.

The room was quiet as Shiro soaked some of the gauze with what he deemed was the equivalent of saline, gently pressing it against the wound, which was still oozing blood. He could see how Keith’s jaw was stiff, his teeth gritted against the pain as he hands gripped the edge of the bed.

“Keith,” Shiro finally said, setting the bloody gauze down and brushing his palm against Keith’s cheek, “You don’t have to hide your pain from me. It’s okay… You can cry if you want to.”

The Red Paladin stared up at him with wide eyes for a long moment, but then the glaze of tears came, flooding over the exhausted violet of his gaze and creating a desperate glassy sheen before they fell, slowly rolling down his cheeks before he reached out, and Shiro met him halfway.

He sank into the bed at Keith’s side, herding the younger paladin close against his chest, not minding how the blood from Keith’s wound smeared over the white of his chest plate. Keith was shaking against him, a persistent tremble coursing through his body as he sobbed against Shiro’s chest, and Shiro could only hold him, running his hand gently up and down his back to try and calm him. He could feel the hot splashes of Keith’s tears seeping through his own under-suit, damping the cloth near his collarbone.

He hated seeing Keith cry. Since he had finally told Keith he loved him, he knew he never wanted to see him cry so openly and brokenly.

“Baby,” he whispered gently, stroking his hand through Keith’s hair, “It’s okay. You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you, Keith.”

“It’s not _okay_ ,” Keith hiccupped out a sob into his skin, “They all looked at me like I was- like I was a- _a_ _monster_ ,” he choked out, “And I- I’ve never- I didn’t feel at home on Earth, not since my dad, but here I felt- I felt like I could belong somewhere, but I don’t! I _don’t_ , Takashi…”

“No, that’s not true, Keith… You _do_ belong here,” Shiro said softly, guiding Keith’s face away from his neck so he could see him properly, taking in the teary, red-rimmed eyes and the blotchy, tear-streaked cheeks of the boy he loved, “You belong here, right _here_ , with me in my arms… The others, they were- they were just shocked… Once they understand. Everything will be okay. You’re the same person you were yesterday. Nothing has changed…”

Slowly, he passed his thumb over Keith’s cheek, catching a slow tear as it fell and wiping it away. Maybe Keith needed to cry in that moment, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be there to kiss his tears away after the fact, and that was exactly what he wanted to do in that moment. He leaned in, kissing Keith slowly, carefully in case the other paladin was too overwhelmed to reciprocate, but after a second he felt Keith’s lips shift against his own, kissing him back with a soft sweetness he had come to expect from moments like these.

After a short while, he pulled away, still cradling Keith’s cheek in his palm as the other boy blinked up at him tiredly, his eyes reflecting the hardships of the day but also the love Shiro had experienced more times than he could count, “Let’s get you feeling better, okay?”

“Okay,” Keith whispered, sniffling once as he rubbed at his eyes, “Sorry, Shiro…”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Keith,” Shiro said with a fond smile, reaching for the roll of gauze and the medicine for Keith’s injuries, “I love you so I’m here, okay? For every side of you, every part of you, Galra or not.”

Keith’s eyes recaptured the same glassy look as before at his words, but no additional tears fell. Instead, he just nodded, staying quiet as Shiro rubbed ointment into his wounds before he caught his hand, clearly not minding the gooey salve on his skin as he laced their fingers together, “I- I love you too, Takashi,” he murmured, “Thank you for being here for me…”

“I’ll always be here, Keith,” Shiro smiled effortlessly, “I belong here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I started this a bajillion years ago and forgot about it like most of the fics I write ajhfsdjhds
> 
> I hope you liked it and please leave a comment if you did!! Thank youuuuu!!! 
> 
> As usual, you can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com)! I love Sheith and talking about Sheith and crying about Sheith so please come find me if you want!


End file.
